Induction Standards for Northern Ireland

Standard 1: Understand the principles of care: Risk assessment

Supporting people to make their own choices means making sure they have the right information about the different options and any consequences.

Some people who work in care may find this hard. They may feel that the person’s choices are dangerous or unwise. This links to the duty of care (in induction standard 2) where there can be conflict.

Look at the following resources:

Letting a person make their own choices often involves taking risks. People have rights to take risks. Look again at this statement from the Department of Health (DH) quoted earlier in this section:

‘Supporting people to make informed choices – Most of the choices that people make in life naturally involve some element of risk, and the decisions made by people using health and social care are no different. Avoiding risks altogether would constrain their choices and opportunities. Risk is a concept that tends to have negative connotations but people take considered risks all of the time and gain many positive benefits. As new health and social care choices and opportunities arise, they are likely to involve the consideration of taking risks.’